Emma, the baby whisperer
by Dearqueen.xx
Summary: Since Regina announced her pregnancy, Cora could only talk about how young and unprepared her daughter was. Regina decided to prove her mother wrong and she'll find some useful help from a sweet blonde baby sitter. AU. No magic. (Rating may be changed along the way.)
1. Chapter 1

**Lots of thanks to my dear beta rhona_gray ;)**

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Things were getting kind of crazy in the Mills mansion. To say that Cora was a control freak was an understatement, Regina was used to her mother bossing she and her sister around, but now that baby Henry was born, the woman was getting unbearable.

"At last!" Cora uttered as soon as Regina got into the room and placed the baby monitor in the hardwood sideboard. "If it started crying one more time, I think I'd lose it!"

"It's not an _it_ , mother, _he_ is my son." She answered as she took a seat in one of the expensive armchairs in front of the fireplace.

"Anyway, darling, I think it's time we find him a daycare facility." The older woman suggested while moving her eyes over the newspaper she was supposedly reading.

"I beg your pardon?" Regina's head shifted into her mother's direction immediately.

"A nursery school, dear." Her mother completed as to clarify what she meant.

"Yeah, I got that, but it's out of discussion!" The young lady assured.

Cora blinked a few times and turned slowly to look at her daughter, newspaper still open in her hands.

"Mother, he's three months old! He needs to stay with me!" Regina argued, her pitch rising and her forehead vein showing her uneasiness.

"Regina, sweet child, let me remind you of something." She closed the gazette and placed it on the coffee table, uncrossing her legs, "Whilst you live under this roof, you shall do as I say, do you understand?" Her voice was somehow both tender and firm.

"But Mother!"

" _Do_ you understand?" Her mother pressed.

Tears of hatred were starting to fill the girl's eyes and she refused to let her mother see a single drop coming out of them. She got on her feet and ran to her room, climbing up the stairs two steps at a time.

The rest of the night remained silent and Regina thanked little Henry for being so quiet and taken by his sleep. She was checking on her son, when she heard a light knock on the door. She left the side of the crib and went to the door as it opened slowly, revealing her father's head. Before he could come inside, she signaled she'd come out so that they wouldn't disturb the peaceful baby.

"Is he still asleep?" The old man whispered with a smile and got a silent nod from his daughter in response. "Good. He's a good child."

"Mom doesn't seem to agree." The brunette said as they entered the library, where father and daughters usually spent time together.

"You have to excuse your mother, Gina... Her thinking mechanism is quite different from ours" he petted the girl's dark brown locks as they sat down on the sofa, "Not evil, I assure you." He completed as his daughter opened her mouth to argue.

"She wants to send him away, daddy…"

"You know that's not what she said." He tried to comfort her, but his words offered little comfort as he himself knew the girl was right. Since Regina announced her pregnancy, Cora could only talk about how young and unprepared her daughter was. She kept insinuating the baby'd have a much better like if he was raised by mature and responsible parents and she'd even mention a couple of acquaintances she knew were willing to adopt.

"And you know she discussed the issue with the Geppettos already."

"Oh, honey… Your mother's used to take care of our family decisions, she's just looking for what's best for you and little Henry."

"What she _thinks_ is best for us, daddy, but she doesn't even _listen_ to me!" tears were rolling down her cheeks, "I _know_ me and Daniel screwed up, I know it! But it doesn't give her the right to make these choices for me, to live _my_ life for me!"

Sir Henry listened to his younger daughter with a heavy heart. He knew his wife was a tough woman and sometimes would act without consulting with the rest of the family, but he loved the woman with all his heart and would never be able to confront her.

"She already ruined my relationship with Daniel, dad, I won't let her do the same to my son, I won't!" Henry tried to embrace Regina to stop her sobs, but she wouldn't let him. "You know what? She said I had to obey her if I wanted to live under this roof, but guess what? I don't want to live here anymore! She can't stop me, dad, I'm of age and I can do whatever I want!"

"Regina, reason with me… You can't leave this house…"

"Of course I can!" She got up immediately and faced her father with flushed cheeks.

"I don't mean that you don't have the strength to do it, sweetie, what I'm trying to say is that you won't be able to provide for you and your s-"

"Oh no, you're very wrong about that, father. I may be only eighteen, but I have two good arms and two good legs and I _will_ find some place to work. I don't need this mansion, I don't need to be wealthy, all I need is my son. And no one, NO ONE will take him away from me."

Henry watched as the brunette girl stormed out of the room and shook his head.

"She's just like her mother…"

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Regina spent the whole night on her computer. She just needed a plan, she kept repeating to herself while looking for jobs and hostels, but the fatigue was reaching her fast. She'd give anything to have her sister there to help her, or Daniel, who she knew would want to raise Henry with her.

"If only he knew…" Regina placed her head in her hands and allowed a few more tears to fall from her eyes. That was all she did lately: cry. Alone. She'd cry out of fear, she'd cry out of anger, she'd cry out of loneliness, she'd even cry because of all the crying she'd been doing. She got up from her chair and went to the bathroom to wash over her red face. She took her reflection in for a second and felt sorry for herself. Zelena's voice played inside her head: _you look ridiculous, Regina! Oh, for God's sakes, be a woman, will ya?_ She smiled to the thought of her sister's voice. She missed her with all her heart everyday since the ginger girl went to London to study psychology. She wanted to text her and ask for help, maybe even go after her and ask for a place to stay, but she knew she had to be better than that, she needed to prove herself. She needed to show everyone she wasn't a little girl anymore, she was a woman and a mother and she would make her own decisions.

Regina packed her hiking bag with only the necessary items, once she knew the amount of baby stuff she'd have to bring along. She tiptoed to her son's room and completed the packing with difficulty cursing the fact that such a small creature would need that much junk.

As she managed to close the last pocket, she checked on her son. "It's almost time, Henry." She said moving the baby's hair to the side. The brunette mentally checked everything she had to take: baby stuff, clothes, toothbrush, documents, food, money… money. She opened her wallet and stared at her credit card. She knew she couldn't keep it. She knew if she wanted to live her life with no interference, she'd have to handle the money issue. She also knew the moment her parents realized she was gone, they'd track her down as soon as she used the charge card. She took it on her hand and fitted it for a second as if it represented all her problems, all control her mother had over her. She could feel the anger building up inside her system and she broke the card in two pieces, satisfied with herself. This was it. She was ready, it was time to live her life.

Regina put on the heavy backpack and regarded her son. "Please don't cry, please don't cry." She pleaded as she reached to take him on her arms. Little Henry grumbled a little, but didn't wake up and the girl breathed relieved. She carefully placed him in the baby carrier that was tightly wrapped around her waist and back and adjusted his head on her breasts so that he'd be cozy sleeping during the journey to the coach station.

It took her a little to get used to the weight that was pulling her to the ground at each step, but she marched to the gate of the house without looking back. As she reached to open it, a loud and dangerous voice filled the dark path.

"Where do you think you're going?" Regina felt a cold wash running down her spine. She took a deep breath and turned to face Cora.

"Away from _you_." She filled the last word with all the rage she felt for that woman.

"Silly girl, do you even know what you're doing?" Cora mocked.

"I'm sure I do." She said giving her back to her mother again.

"Come back inside, Regina. Now." The older woman ordered.

Regina stopped for a moment and looked back, but not to her mother. Her attention was drawn to the upper right window, where her father was witnessing the scene. To know her father wouldn't do anything but stare down the window was like being stabbed in the chest, but the girl regained her strength and glared back. She offered him a single nod as goodbye and resumed her walking.

"Regina!" She heard Cora shouting in a warning, "If you don't turn around right now," she paused, and Regina kept walking, "don't bother to ever come back!"

A single tear ran down the girl's left cheek as those words touched her ears and she promised herself it'd be the last one her mother would get from her.

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 **Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! All comments are really appreciated, don't be shy to share your review with me! :)**  
 **I have to warn you I won't be updating so frequently, cause I have another work in progress right now that is kind of my priority, but I promiss more frequent updates as soon as I finish the other one (in case you're interested, the title's A pretty real delusion)**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm sorry it's been like ages since the first chapter, I promise the next one won't take half as long! ;)**

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Regina walked through the night until her back couldn't take the weight on her shoulders anymore. She realized she had never really noticed how far the coach station was from her house; everything seemed so close by car. She took a seat on the first bench she saw and caressed her son's head.

"You're lucky you're too little to walk." She complained to the sleeping baby and smiled. He was so innocent, so free from all the problems in the world.

Regina checked the map on her cellphone to see how far they were to the station and breathed relieved: it was about a mile away. She checked the time and looked around. Of course there was no one on the streets at that early hour in a residential neighborhood. The lampposts were doing a good job in maintaining the streets illuminated, but the idea of sitting on a bench for too long with a 3 months old baby tied to her chest was not sounding like a great plan, so the girl took a deep breath and got up to continue her journey.

By the time mother and son arrived at the station, there were signs of morning in the navy sky. Regina went to the panel with the buses schedules and pondered the possibilities. The ones that would take her to Boston, where she was planning to try her luck, were only five hours later. She scanned the station and found that apart from her, there was only one lonely guy waiting for his bus. Deciding she didn't want to spend more than an hour alone in that place, she bought a ticket to the next departing bus. She didn't know that much about Boston anyway, it wouldn't make much of a difference if she chose a different destination.

Forty minutes and a change of diapers later, she and Henry approached the first coach in line which sign read Storybrooke. Henry's wide eyes couldn't focus on one thing for more than two seconds as they got into the vehicle. The curious baby shifted his head to take in all sorts of new information that were presenting themselves to him and he was getting agitated.

"It's called a bus, Henry, and it'll take us to a new home." She whispered to her son with love as the driver closed the door. They were alone in the bus, which was both good and bad. On the one hand, she wouldn't need to mind prying eyes when she fed Henry. On the other hand, it was kind of scary having someone driving you and your baby to a city you don't know. What if he kidnapped them both and took them to a creepy warehouse? Regina would never know, she didn't know the road to Storybrooke anyway. The brunette swallowed hard and took a look at the man driving slowly out of the coach station. Worrying wouldn't get her any calmer, so she focused on her awaken son.

"Wanna get out of this prison, my dear prince?" She asked him while freeing him from the carrier and holding him in her arms. "It'll take only a while, ok? But I promise you'll like it there." She said in an assurance she didn't really possess. "Anything is better than grandma's mansion, that much I can tell you, prince."

The sun was slyly rising and coloring the sky. A promise of a better day, some could say.

The trip to Storybrooke was a little troubled for Henry. Regina guessed the boy was feeling the change and wasn't really approving it. The first time she fed him, he happily drank the warm milk she provided him, but it was the only peaceful moment of the whole trip. The other hour seemed to last forever with all the crying and the screams and Henry's resistance in cooperating in any of his mother's attempts to calm him down and entertain him. Regina was already embarrassed by all the looks the driver kept giving them through the rear mirror, but she couldn't do more than she was doing.

It was a relief for all three of them when the bus finally came to a stop in the main road of a small and silent town. Regina tried to thank the driver and apologize at the same time, but he glared through his window to avoid any sort of further talk, and she left the bus silently.

As soon as the girl's foot touched the sidewalk, Henry stopped crying and looked around to take in his surroundings.

"Oh now you're quiet! Very funny, young boy, very funny…" Regina sighed. She adjusted the weight of their luggage on her shoulders and her son in her arms and searched for any sign of a place they could eat breakfast. When her eyes spotted an 'open' sign, she marched right at it decidedly".

The doorbell announced their entry in the diner and a blonde girl behind the counter looked up from the glasses she was cleaning.

"Morning" Regina said with a smile to the startled blonde.

"Morning, Miss, what can I do for you?" the girl gently offered, trying to hide her surprise from having outsiders at the diner.

"A cappuccino, please." She ordered and headed to a booth to free her back from the bag. The waitress followed the brunette's movements and soon realized she was having difficulty to take off the backpack while holding the little baby.

"May I?" The blonde offered, stretching her arms to take Henry from Regina, who hesitated for a moment before handing her son to the other woman.

"Thanks." She finally said as she got rid of the heavy bag. When she turned to get her baby back, she was impressed to see a quiet Henry inspecting the waitress' face and hair with interest. "He seems to like you." She smiled.

"Indeed." The blonde smiled back and gave Henry to Regina. "Be right back with your coffee."

"Ok." Regina answered distractedly holding her son and wondering how he could've shifted so quickly from the screaming devil from the coach to the sweet angel he was at that moment. "You're really something, you know that, right?" She told him.

The smell of coffee timidly filled the room and reached Regina's system, making her eyes close quite instantly in appreciation. When she reopened them, the blonde waitress was halfway in their direction with the steaming beverage.

"The taste is even better, if you don't mind a little bragging, the blonde taunted and placed the cappuccino in front of the brunette, far from Henry's reach.

"We'll see about that in a second." Regina answered bringing the cup to her lips to take a careful sip due to the light steam. "Hmm," She began to answer before she placed the cup down to the tabletop, "I have to admit," she looked the blonde in the eye "you know how to welcome a new customer."

"First impressions are always important. Besides.. I can spot a new regular when I see one." The waitress indicated Regina and Henry's bag with a tilt of her head.

"Oh, what gave me away?" The brunette answered with fake surprise and they both smiled.

"I guess you'll be needing a place to stay the night, then?"

"We will indeed."

"I may have just the place for you guys." The blonde indicated the sign which read 'Granny's Bed & Breakfast' in the opposite wall.

"Oh" Regina hadn't realized the place was more than a simple diner and wasn't expecting to have to deal with the matter of rooms and accommodations with the blonde girl. It would be a rather delicate topic once the money she brought along in her bag wasn't really enough for more than a few days in a hostel.

"I'm sorry," the waitress added noticing the other woman's discomfort "you don't have to feel constrained to stay here or anything."

"No, I…"

"Don't worry, I'll be right there in case you need anything." She said distancing herself before the brunette could say another word.

Regina sighed and finished her coffee while little Henry reached for the sugar sachets to play with.

Deciding it'd be better to approach the waitress in the counter and explain her sudden awkwardness, she got up with her son on her hands only to find out the woman behind the counter was a different one.

"Excuse me" Regina interrupted the skinny brunette working in the coffee machine, "where can I find the other waitress?"

"Oh Emma went to the back to help granny with the new merchandise, can I help you with anything?"

"I… Er… Yes, the check, please. It was just a cappuccino."

"Sure. That'll be $4 then."

"Right." Regina reached for her jeans' pocket, shifting Henry's weight to her left arm, "By the way, how much are the rooms for the night?" She asked trying to sound casual.

"Do you plan on staying? Oh that's so great! You'll love the rooms, they're comfy and quiet and only $15 a night and as we don't currently have any other customer at the moment, you'd even have your own bathroom. I mean, you'd have to share it with this little guy there, though." The skinny waitress chattered in one single breath and pointed to Regina's baby.

"Right." The girl nodded still a little uncertain of what she was doing.

"Shall we see the rooms, then? I have to talk to granny about the crib, though; I don't know where she keeps it, but don't worry, we'll find you and little guy one." The brunette winked while taking the pair to the rooms.


End file.
